Nate Cage
Peter Greene (born September 23, 1991) is a British professional wrestler and journalist currently signed to Omega Wrestling Alliance, where he performs under the ring name Nate Cage. Greene is known for his tenure in Brit Pro Wrestling. He has also performed for established British promotions such as Resist Pro Wrestling, Crazy Championship Wrestling, and Defy Pro Wrestling. Early Life Greene was born at Tameside Hospital in the town of Ashton-under-Lyne in the Greater Manchester area. His parents were Jane, a college teacher, and Simon, a factory worker. Greene’s parents split at a young age, and Jane eventually married Gareth, an electrical engineer. Greene has since said in interviews that he considers Gareth his true father and hasn’t had contact with his biological father since he was 14. Greene and his family moved to South East England when he was 12, where he completed his A-Levels at Farnborough Sixth Form College. Greene studied both film and drama at Kingston University for a year before transitioning fully to the film course. He has stated the he was depressed at university, and that the lack of enjoyment he got from the drama course killed his aspirations of being an actor. However, he has praised the film course and has expressed interest in pursuing a Master’s in the future. Greene soon took to writing about professional wrestling for various websites, aiming to pursue a career in journalism. At the age of 22 years old, he decided to try his hand at wrestling training to see if he could make a life out of it. Professional Wrestling Career Brit Pro Wrestling ''' '''Early Feuds (2015) Not long after completing his training, Greene caught the eye of Jim Smalls, owner of Brit Pro Wrestling. Smalls was impressed by Greene’s knowledge of cinema and narrative theory, believing he would be able to create a compelling character for his promotion. Greene debuted for BPW at The Vanquishing in March 2015. Appearing in a military uniform and using the ring name Nate Cage. He has since said that the character was inspired by his love of war movies, taking inspiration from characters such as Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse now and Gunnery Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket. At the show, he called out Peter Doomsday, who had been absent from BPW since September 2014. Doomsday has since gone on record as saying that Smalls called him up before the Nate Cage character debuted, telling him that he saw a potential feud between the two being a great way of firmly establishing them as key players within the promotion. The initial few months of Nate Cage’s run in BPW were met with a lukewarm reaction from fans. Many saw his overly gimmicky character as being “too American” and going against the ethos of the punk rock attitude of BPW. Doomsday would remain absent from events, which was an agreed upon idea between himself, Smallman and Cage. The idea was inspired by Apocalypse Now, a film in which the protagonist is obsessed with finding his target and begins to question his own sanity the further along he gets. Cage would spend the time waiting for Doomsday tagging with Killer Kris, who dubbed Cage as his “Herald”. Though they never captured the BPW Tag Team Championship, they had a series of acclaimed matches against the team of Zachariah Rampage and Freddy Vandal. This led to the fans turning around on Nate Cage, accepting him as a staple of BPW events, turning him into a fan favourite in the process. Killer Kris slowly grew jealous of Cage’s success, eventually turning on him and setting up a match between the two at Thunder Fuckers, the company’s annual flagship PPV, where Cage defeated Kris. Their match drew high acclaim from fans and critics alike, with some even opining that it surpassed the quality of the lauded main event match between James Chaos and Freddy Vandal. Peter Doomsday returned at Thunder Fuckers, attacking Cage after his victory, establishing himself as the heel of the feud. Doomsday proclaimed that he had no interest in answering Cage’s challenges until he realised that the fans were buying into his message. He feared that Cage was going to brainwash the BPW crowd into getting behind outlandish characters, something he didn’t want to see. Cage and Doomsday didn’t physically interact after this for some time, with the latter avoiding Cage’s attacks by hiding behind security guards (who he claimed were an “insurance policy”). Finally, at Northern Invasion, Cage and Doomsday met in a no disqualification match. Following a 35-minute brawl that saw both men bloodied, Doomsday secured the victory after Cage was distracted by Killer Kris standing on the entrance ramp. The match drew similar praise to Cage’s encounter with Kris, with wrestling journalist Ryan Silk writing, “Cage has evolved from an afterthought in BPW to one of its cornerstones. His work with both Killer Kris and Peter Doomsday this year has been some of the freshest, most exciting wrestling I can remember seeing in a long time. Anybody who had any doubts about Cage’s meteoric rise in BPW must have surely been silenced by now.” Injury and Transformation into "The Righteous" (2016 - 2017) It wasn’t long after this that Cage was inserted into his first singles title programme. The BPW North Champion, Billy Bastard, was becoming a despised heel. The Londoner was dominating the Northern scene and the fans hated him. Cage, a Manchester native, came out to a hero’s welcome during one of Billy’s promos at a live show, and challenged him for his title. During their title match at Reclaiming the North, Cage shattered his right ankle after landing awkwardly off a running knee from the ring apron. The match continued for another ten minutes as planned, and Cage managed to secure the victory with a rushed submission finish to capture the title. As he was helped to the back, the fans realised that something was very wrong. The next week, Cage came out during a live show with crutches, revealing that he badly hurt his ankle partway though his match and that by continuing to wrestle, aggravated the injury to the point he required surgery. Having to vacate the title, Cage would not be seen in BPW until December 2016, as he went through an intensive rehabilitation, with the goal of returning to in-ring competition before the end of the year. True to his word, Cage returned on December 24th at BPW’s annual Christmas Eve show, Season’s Beatings, appearing to be fully healed. He thanked the fans for their patience and respect, and vowed to win back the title he never lost. However, he then called out the fans, claiming that his obsession with winning them over was what caused him to lose his concentration and get hurt in the first place, turning heel in the process. He said that he no longer fought for the pride of the North, but for the hunger for gold. At the January 2017 PPV, New Year’s Conflict Resolution, Cage was granted his rematch for the BPW North Championship. Debuting a new take on his character, dubbed “The Righteous,” he came to the ring surrounded by soldiers. This took his character away from being a lone warrior and transitioned him into a separatist military cult leader. He defeated the then-champion, Ricky England in a brutal squash to reclaim his title with ease. After the match, he beat Ricky so badly that he had to stretchered out of the arena. Cage then took to the microphone, disowning the city of Manchester, and proclaiming to fight for himself as the crowd hurled rubbish into the ring. Record Breaking Reign and Double Champion (2017 - 2018) Cage’s run as the BPW North Champion was seen by many as his anointment as one of the “Big Four” in BPW (along with James Chaos, Freddy Vandal and Peter Doomsday). He was pushed as the face of BPW’s Northern territory and spent the first six months of his reign running through the entire division. He would also take his title to other promotions in the North, such as Resist Pro Wrestling in Liverpool, Crazy Championship Wrestling in Leeds, and Defy Pro Wrestling in Newcastle. This dominance earned him the title of “King in the North” (a reference to the popular TV series, Game of Thrones), and he headlined every major show that the company put on in the territory for his entire run as champion. Cage’s first long-term programme as champion came in June when his old rival, Peter Doomsday, now a face, came out to challenge the unbeaten champion. Doomsday accused Cage of losing sight of who he was and where he came from, calling him a traitor to the hard-working Northern attitude that the belt represented. In their first title match at the BPW July PPV, Mayhem in Manchester, Cage fought Doomsday to a one-hour time limit draw in the main event. It still stands as the longest match in BPW history. The match drew acclaim from virtually every part of the wrestling community. Company owner Jim Smalls said it might have been the best match he’d ever seen, and that he was proud to have given the two men a platform to showcase their abilities. The fans echoed this sentiment, voting it as the company’s Match of the Year in the fan voted yearly BPW awards (where Cage was also voted Wrestler of the Year). Doomsday demanded a rematch, keen to point out that while he didn’t win, neither did Cage and thus his title retention was tainted. Cage initially refused, but Doomdsay would spend the next three months systematically targeting members of Cage’s military entourage until Cage was the only one left. Cage finally relented and granted Doomsday his rematch at the October show, but demanded Doomsday put his career on the line. At the Annihilation PPV, Cage retained his title after taking advantage of a worked concussion that Doomsday suffered early on in the match. His brutal exploitation of this head injury earned him chants of “You sick fuck!” and “You’re a cunt! And you know you are!” from the relentless BPW crowd. Doomsday, as per the match stipulation, left the company (in reality, he had been told by doctors that he had a rare degenerative bone disease and had to retire within the next year). The concussion was used as a cover so that Doomsday could exit wrestling as a fighting warrior who gave all that he could. Him and Cage remain close friends to this day, and Cage has always credited Doomsday with getting him to where he is in the wrestling business. Cage would continue holding the title all the way through to the 2018 edition of New Year’s Conflict Resolution. After successfully defending his title yet again (this time against Freddy Vandal), Cage took to the microphone and called out company owner Jim Smalls. Cage pointed out how he had now been the BPW North Champion for exactly one year, which was both longest reign of that title and of any title in the company. As a reward for this historic run, Cage demanded a shot at the BPW World Championship (held by James Chaos, the top face of the company), and threatened to leave the company with his title and defend it in Defy Pro Wrestling (who were seen as BPW’s primary competition at this point). Smalls granted Cage his title shot at the February PPV, Changing of the Guard, on one condition: that he put his title on the line as well. The Title vs. Title match between Chaos and Cage went almost 50 minutes, with some arguing that it surpassed the quality of the time limit draw between Cage and Doomsday from the previous year. After hitting his finisher, the Devil’s Backbone, on the resilient Chaos four times in a row, Cage won the match and was crowned the first double champion in company history. Departure (2018) Despite many seeing Cage’s historic win positioning him as the face of the company, he announced in April that he would be leaving BPW, and had signed with the national American promotion, Omega Wrestling Alliance. In an interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine, Cage gave his reasoning for the change, “I want to be clear that this was not an easy decision. I have nothing but gratitude for the BPW fans and wrestlers who helped push me to the point I’m not at. I felt like I was getting creatively burned out in BPW, I carried an entire division on my back for over a year and was wrestling non-stop. My health was starting to suffer and I feared being overexposed. Being able to hold both of those beautiful titles and make history was a real honour, and I am thankful. But the OWA made me an offer that I felt matched my worth more than what BPW could give me. I saw it as a new opportunity to branch out to an international audience and we’ve got some really fun stuff planned. If you’re truly a fan of mine, than you can still see me every week, feuding with fresh talent and being involved in new stories. This is Nate Cage’s evolution.” Cage wrestled his final match for BPW on April 29th 2018, at a specially put together show called Long Live the King. All of Cage’s previous antics were forgotten, and he appeared as a babyface with his original theme music to wrestle Peter Doomsday in an exhibition match in the main event. Doomsday had been medically cleared to compete one last time, and the two men wrestled for 40 minutes, with Doomsday finally securing a win against post-Righteous Nate. The two men hugged after the final bell, before Cage grabbed a mic and thanked the fans for everything they had done for him. He officially vacated his titles as every member of the roster came out to offer him a round of applause. Jim Smalls then came to the ring, hugged Nate and presented him with a custom-made “King in the North” commemorative title belt, to honour the work Cage had done for both the North division and the company as a whole. The crowd then chanted “Thank-you, Nate!” in unison for a solid ten minutes as Cage said his goodbyes. Omega Wrestling Alliance Wolvesden (2018 - present) Cage made his debut for OWA on their weekly Kingdom show as a heel in a triple threat match against Johnny Star and Stefan St. Sigmund. Cage won the match after interference from the villainous faction, Wolvesden. Cage was named “War Advisor” for the faction and became the de facto second-in-command under their leader, Kenny Drake. Cage’s gimmick was largely unchanged upon entering the OWA, except the psychologically sadistic side was played up much more. The week after, he defeated Axl Willow in a quick squash match, and was named one of the competitors in an Ultimate X match at Hardcore Havoc to crown the inaugural OWA Spartan Champion. Before the match, Cage received OWA’s “Rising Star Award” in their weekly awards newsletter. He began to draw praise for his unnerving promos and use of disturbing imagery to introduce his character to overseas audiences. At Hardcore Havoc, Cage did not win the match, but it sparked a feud between himself and fellow countryman, Gareth Cason. Despite their initial feud only being short, Cage has spoken positively of his first month in the company and of Gareth. Cage said in an interview with the Wrestling Observer, “I’d briefly met Gareth at a couple of MMA shows back home, he’s a good bloke. I feel like we’re kind of both in this together. I’m very new to US audiences and he’s only just started his career in pro wrestling. Though we didn’t work together for very long, I learned a lot about how to operate for an American crowd and Gareth was very accommodating in educating me on how best to connect with them. It’s funny, because I’ve been doing this for so long but I’m such a newbie on this side of the pond, and Gareth was rapidly gaining all sorts of experience here. I hope we get to work together again in the future once I’m more established here. He’s a good mate and we talk a lot about ideas for each other’s characters, he’s not as mean as he lets on.” After earning a victory over the Bollywood World Order with his Wolvesden teammate, Clinton Stone, it was announced that Cage would compete for the inaugural OWA Bloodline Tag Team Championships at the Game Over event in June. It is unknown at this time what configuration of Wolvesden will compete in the match. Personal Life Greene currently resides in New York with his girlfriend, Rachel Wilding, a professional boxer. They own two rescue dogs, Davey Boy and Dynamite. Greene has said that he spends his free time watching films, reading, playing video games and writing. He often does freelance work as a wrestling and film journalist and is working on a novel. Greene has a deep love for hip hop and has consistently used the music of American hip hop duo, Run the Jewels for his entrance themes. He has said that he would love to one day be played down to the ring by the pair. He cites his favourite wrestlers as British legends such as Steven Royal, David Bull, Simon Fuller and Danny Vicious. He has stressed on numerous occasions that he is nothing like his character and is quite an approachable, easy going guy in real life. He sees wrestling as a form of real life movies, and that he is paid to portray a character. Many fans have spoke positively of their experiences with Greene before and after shows, stating that he is always happy to take photos and sign autographs, as well as hang out with them at a local pub if he has the time. Greene is straight edge, and credits this with his rapid climb up the wrestling ladder. He says that as he is not distracted by chemical influences, he can maintain focus on improving as a performer and being the best wrestler he can be. He has talked extensively about his step father’s past with drug and alcohol abuse, and how he learned from that that substance abuse was a destructive force. Greene's Sister, Hattie, is also a wrestler. She is signed to the OWA as Natalie Cage. The two real-life siblings are portrayed as such on-screen as well. Greene trained Hattie to wrestle and was instrumental in getting her signed with the company. Greene has said that while she is still new to the business, she is learning fast and he hopes to see her develop into a well-rounded performer some day. In Wrestling Finishing Moves *''Death Sentence (T-bone suplex from the top rope) *''The Brig ''(Sharpshooter bridging into a chancery) *''The Devil's Backbone ''(Powerbomb lungblower) '''Signature Moves' *''Dogtag (Vertical suplex into a spinning neckbreaker) *''Two Finger Salute ''(Rope assisted snapping opponent's fingers (with theatrics)) *''Doomsday Scenario ''(Running knee strike with opponent's head against the ring post) *''ICBM ''(Missile dropkick to the back of the head) *''Death Before Dishonour ''(Spiral tap plancha) *T-bone suplex *Double underhook crossface *Ankle lock *Chop block *DDT *Rolling elbow *German suplex *Powerbomb *Piledriver *Reverse STO '''Nicknames' *"The King in the North" *"Northern Soul" *'"The Righteous"' Managers *Natalie Cage Entrance Themes *"Sea Legs" by Run the Jewels (March 22nd 2015 - December 24th 2016; April 29th 2018) *"Blockbuster Night, Pt.1" by Run the Jewels (January 15th, 2017 - April 28th, 2018) *'"Don't Get Captured" by Run the Jewels (May 6th, 2018 - present)' *'"Talk to Me" by Run the Jewels (May 6th, 2018 - present)' *"Mouth for War" by Pantera (May 13th, 2018) Championships and Accomplishments *'Brit Pro Wrestling' **BPW World Championship (1 time) **BPW North Championship (2 time) **BPW Wrestler of the Year (2017) **BPW Match of the Year (2017, vs. Peter Doomsday at Mayham in Manchester) **BPW King in the North Championship (commemorative title to honour accomplishments within the North division) *'Omega Weekly Awards' **Rising Star of the Week (1 time)